Maia Bakroeva asks: I am a big fan of your Deryni books, and would like to ask about the untimely demise of my favorite villain, Wencit of Torenth. Namely, what were his hoax Camberian Council arbitrators supposed to do at the end of High Deryni? How could Wencit claim that the duel was legal if the impostors were to attack Kelson et al in the full sight of two armies? Also if the truth of Wencit’s dying by poison rather than being defeated magically in the Duel Arcane were to become widely known, would Torenth consider itself free from any obligation to pay fealty to Kelson as Overlord of Torenth? Or does death by any means constitute legal defeat in the Dueling Circle?

Katherine says: I rather imagine that Wencit’s plans had very little to do with what was “legal.” He was looking for a semblance of legality, but whatever would have happened in the rigged Duel Arcane would have been inside the circle, and therefore unclear to those watching. Beyond that, Wencit would have regarded victory as the important thing, regardless of how he won it. After all, once he’d won, who was likely to stop him from doing what he wanted?

Re: Wencit dying by poison rather than being defeated by magic—actually, he was defeated by magic, in a sense. Kelson reached out magically and stopped his heart. (Granted, he was already incapacitated and fatally stricken at that point, but he still died by magic; and the important thing is that he died.) As for Torenth paying fealty to Kelson as Overlord—read KKB. I think you’ll find that, by the end of the book, the question is moot!